The invention relates to a high-pressure cleaning appliance with a motor-pump unit, comprising a pump head on which is positioned a piston subassembly, on which a drive motor is seated with the interposition of a planetary gearing, the piston subassembly having a plurality of pistons which can be moved back and forth in the longitudinal direction of the motor-pump unit and each penetrate into a pumping chamber of the pump head, and also comprising a swash-plate unit which interacts with the pistons, and the planetary gearing having a sun gear which is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the motor shaft of the drive motor and is coupled to a ring gear via a plurality of planet gears rotatably mounted on a planet gear carrier, the planet gear carrier being connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the swash-plate unit.
By means of such high-pressure cleaning appliances, a cleaning liquid, preferably water, can be subjected to pressure and directed onto a surface which is to be cleaned. For this purpose, the swash-plate unit is made to rotate by the drive motor, and the pistons, which interact with the swash-plate unit, are caused to move back and forth, so that cleaning liquid can be sucked into the pumping chambers of the pump head and then discharged under high pressure. In the operating position of the high-pressure cleaning appliance, the drive motor, the piston subassembly and the pump head, which together form a motor-pump unit, are usually oriented horizontally. This makes it possible to ensure, in a constructionally simple manner, that in particular the planetary gearing can be supplied with oil for lubricating purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,998 discloses a high-pressure cleaning appliance in which the motor-pump unit is oriented vertically in the operating position. The motor-pump unit, however, is configured straightforwardly by the motor shaft being coupled directly to the swash-plate unit without interposition of a planetary gearing.
It is an object of the present invention to develop a high-pressure cleaning appliance of the type mentioned in the introduction such that the planetary gearing can be lubricated to good effect even when the motor-pump unit is oriented substantially vertically.